2013 Discover Orange Bowl: NIU Huskies vs. Florida State Seminoles

The 2012-2013 Bowl Blitz Invitational presented by STAT BOX STORIES continues with the Discover Orange Bowl, matching up the #15 Northern Illinois Huskies (12-1, 8-0 MAC) and the #12 Florida State Seminoles (11-2, 7-1 ACC). Jeremy Bennett of The Gaming Tailgate played as FSU in their attempt to avoid being upset by their MAC opponent in this BCS Bowl Game.

The 2013 Discover Orange Bowl match-up will be a true David vs. Goliath competition where a strong ACC team in Florida State takes on an upstart Northern Illinois squad who won the MAC Championship this year. The Seminoles ended their season ranked 12th; while the Huskies finished ranked 15th. Northern Illinois’ only loss on the year came on the first game of the season, a one point loss to Iowa. For Florida State, they lost twice on the year, a one point loss to NC State, and an 11 point loss to then #4 Florida. The Seminoles came into this game winning six out of their last seven. The match-up might be lopsided on paper, but the key factor to this game would be Northern Illinois’ stud quarterback QB #6.

Florida State was expected to race out of the gates against Northern Illinois, but it didn’t quite happen in the first quarter. A good drive on the first series of the game lead them down the field with a 2 yard TD run by HB #4. The Seminoles got the ball back and were on another good drive, but a deep pass was intercepted near the five yard line by the Huskies. The very first play in Northern Illinois’ drive was completely blown up and Florida State recorded a safety to make the score 9-0. That would be all the scoring that would happen in the first quarter; however there was an explosive 2nd quarter with a total of 27 points scored — 17 for Florida State and 10 for Northern Illinois. The highlights in the scoring in the 2nd quarter where a very tricky fake punt pass by Northern Illinois for a 54 yard score. At that point, they had pulled within nine with a score of 19-10; however, Florida State answered with the second deep bomb of the quarter with a 58 yard TD to WR #81 to make the score 26-10; which was the score at the half.

The third quarter was all Florida State as 10 points were scored, and Northern Illinois was shutout. Another long pass by QB #3, this time to WR #84 for 35 yards, along with a field goal, made the score 40-10 after three quarters. Three touchdowns were scored in the 4th quarter, all by short runs. Northern Illinois scored twice to Florida State’s one touchdown; however, it wasn’t nearly enough as The Florida State Seminoles dominated the Northern Illinois Huskies 47-24 to win the 2013 Discover Orange Bowl. NIU’s star QB #6 did throw for 304 yards, and had 27 completions; however was held without a touchdown pass. The Player of the Game was HB #4 for Florida State with an electric 190 yards and 3 touchdowns on 35 total carries.

Player of the Game: Florida State HB #4 who ran for 190 yards with 3 touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry on 35 attempts.

It was over when…: Northern Illinois came out flat in the 3rd quarter, and a 26-10 deficit became a 40-10 deficit after three quarters.

Game Ball goes to: HB #4 for being a workhorse keeping the Florida State offense steady with 35 carries.

Stat of the Game: Florida States’ HB #4 was just 16 yards shy of the Orange Bowl rushing record held by Nebraska’s Ahman Green who ran for 206 back in 1998 against Tennessee; however his three touchdowns ties him with Shaun Alexander (Alabama), Scott Frost (Nebraska), and Johnny Rodgers (Nebraska) for the most rushing touchdowns in Orange Bowl history.

Statistical Tidbits: Florida State out-gained Northern Illinois on the ground, 187 to 78. The Huskies scored 2 rushing touchdowns and the Seminoles scored 3 rushing touchdowns. … NIU passed for 358 yards but only managed one passing touchdown. Florida State passed for 320 yards on 11 completions, with three passing touchdowns. … Florida State converted 50% of their third down attempts, while NIU went 9-for-17; the Huskies also converted a 4th Down via a fake punt pass for a touchdown. … The Seminoles lost the turnover battle, throwing two interceptions to NIU’s single interception, but it did not have a bearing on the game’s final result. … Florida State went 3-for-3 on red zone attempts, while NIU scored two touchdowns and a field goal on four trips inside the Huskies’ 20-yard-line.